Alleged Dominican head of New York ATM thefts was shot dead

May 10, 2013|Reuters

By Manuel Jimenez

SANTO DOMINGO, May 10 (Reuters) - An alleged leader of theNew York arm of a global cyber crime ring, which stole $45million from two Middle Eastern banks, was shot dead during anattempted robbery in the Dominican Republic last month,Dominican police said on Friday.

Alberto Lajud-Pena, 23, was killed on April 27 in a house inthe city of San Francisco de Macoris about 100 miles (160 km)northeast of the capital, Santo Domingo, according to police.

Investigators found $100,000 in cash in the house, as wellas an M-16 assault rifle, two 9 mm pistols, a revolver,ammunition clips and a telescopic sight. The money and weaponsbelonged to Lajud-Pena, police said.

Lajud-Pena was one of eight men that U.S. prosecutors saidon Thursday were part of the New York cell of an internationalcriminal syndicate that perpetuated one of the biggest bankheists in the world.

The crime ring hacked into the networks of two credit cardprocessing companies in December 2012 and February 2013,respectively, to steal prepaid debit card data which they usedto fraudulently withdraw money from cash machines in 27countries over a matter of hours.

The U.S. Justice Department said the New York group was ledby Lajud-Pena and pulled $2.4 million from almost 3,000 ATMs inthe city during the space of 10 hours in February. Lajud-Pena'salleged co-defendants are all Hispanic men who were arrested in Yonkers, a New York City suburb that is home to a largeDominican population, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

The global ringleaders of the cyber theft are believed to beoutside the United States though prosecutors declined to givedetails, citing the continuing investigation. Arrests in thecase have also been made in Germany, according to the DÃ¼sseldorfprosecutor's office.

The hackers are alleged to have increased the availablebalance and withdrawal limits on prepaid MasterCard debitcards issued by Bank of Muscat of Oman, and NationalBank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC (RAKBANK) of the UnitedArab Emirates.

They then distributed counterfeit debit cards to "cashers"around the world, enabling them to siphon millions of dollarsfrom cash machines in a matter of hours, the prosecutors said.